Common Quote by Yo-Yo Ma

With every year of playing, you want to relax one more muscle. Why? Because the more tense you are, the less you can hear.

— Yo-Yo Ma

A composition is always more than the sum of its parts. In other words, a really good piece of music is more than itself.…

— Yo-Yo Ma

Good things happen when you meet strangers.

— Yo-Yo Ma

My involvement in the political arena is to make sure there's a place for culture.

— Yo-Yo Ma

When we enlarge our view of the world, we deepen our understanding of our own lives.

— Yo-Yo Ma

People will ask, 'Are you famous?' And I always answer, 'My mother thinks so.'

— Yo-Yo Ma

I remember when I was growing up. My great wish was to understand who I was and how I fit in the world.

— Yo-Yo Ma

It took me way beyond what I knew, into places of which I was totally scared, but as I became less frightened, I welcomed…

— Yo-Yo Ma

One is that you have to take time, lots of time, to let an idea grow from within. The second is that when you…

— Yo-Yo Ma

You go through phases. You have to reinvent reasons for playing, and one year's answer might not do for another.

— Yo-Yo Ma

When people ask me how they should approach performance, I always tell them the professional musician should aspire to the state of the beginner.

— Yo-Yo Ma

Mastering music is more than learning technical skills. Practicing is about quality, not quantity. Some days I practice for hours; other days it will…

— Yo-Yo Ma